A conventional clothes hanger is typically an integrally formed rigid structure having a hook, a pair of downwardly angled upper members extending in opposite directions from the hook, and a lower transverse member extending between the upper members. The shoulders of a garment, such as a coat or jacket, may be draped over the upper members of the hanger to suspend the garment from the hanger in a generally upright orientation so as to reduce the risk of wrinkling or creasing garment. Additionally, garments such as pants or trousers may be draped over the lower member to similarly reduce the risk of wrinkling or creasing of the garments.
Conventional clothes hangers are, however, relatively wide, and are therefore not convenient for carrying in a suitcase, briefcase, travel bag, purse or the like, when traveling or needing to change clothes when away from home. For example, it is often difficult to extract a conventional clothes hanger from a travel bag. The hanger may rumple or otherwise damage the surrounding clothes or other items in the bag. Additionally, the exposed hook of the hanger frequently becomes entangled with the other items in the bag.
For these reasons, a variety of collapsible and foldable clothes hangers have been proposed in the past which are foldable into a relatively compact unit for storage and transportation, and which may be deployed to form a conventional hanger when needed. An exemplary embodiment of one such prior art foldable clothes hanger is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,420,116 to Walters. However, the foldable clothes hanger disclosed in Walters has several disadvantages, that are typical of the problems associated with the prior art in general. For example, when the hanger disclosed in Walters is collapsed, some of the components (e.g. the chain members) of the hanger remain loose and may become entangled with other items or objects. Additionally, the hook remains exposed when the hanger is collapsed, and thus may easily catch on other items or objects when inserted or removed from a travel bag. Moreover, in the case of metal hangers, the exposed hook of the hanger might be potentially dangerous in certain situations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,534 to Hwang discloses another prior art foldable clothes hanger. In order to collapse the hanger in Hwang, however, a connection on the lower branch must first be disengaged, in order to separate this component into two distinct pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,562 to Brink et al. also discloses a prior art foldable clothes hanger. However, in the Brink et al. design, the receptacle bearing the hook protrudes downward and significantly extends into the hanger triangle. As a result, this is little space between the hanger and the receptacle, which would make hanging pants or trousers on the lower branch somewhat difficult. Additionally, the protruding receptacle increases the likelihood that a pant cuff would be snagged when removing pants from the hanger.
Consequently, as a result of these and other disadvantages associated with the prior art, a need exists for an improved foldable garment hanger.